


Everything

by TheSushiMonster



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-16
Updated: 2014-01-16
Packaged: 2018-01-08 23:28:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1138735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSushiMonster/pseuds/TheSushiMonster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"The first time he meets Jemma, it's as Leopold Fitz." Before Jemma, Fitz was Leopold.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Everything

The first time Jemma calls him Fitz, it's as Leopold.

It's the first day at the academy and Fitz stumbles his way through the grounds; his single-room is too far from his class on thermodynamics and he ends up tripping on his untied shoelace halfway there.

Jemma finds him like that, sitting on the lonely white steps, staring at nothing, wondering what the  _hell_  he was doing here.

"Leopold Fitz?"

Fitz tries not to flinch, he really does, but even her beautiful voice can't save the ugly name that falls from her lips. "Fitz," he says, finally looking up. And he has to smile, because despite the sunny grin she wears, her hands are wrapped tightly against the books in her hands and she's biting her lip. "You must be Jemma Simmons." He stays seated though, because if she knows his name then she must know that she should run far,  _far_  away.

Jemma sits down next to him. "Biochemistry concentration," she says, pulling her books tighter against her chest even as she balances her legs on her toes. Although she looks out, towards the many buildings and the students running around, Jemma is speaking just to him: her voice is low and soft and Fitz wonders what's happening. Isn't she supposed to be running?

"Engineering," says Fitz slowly, keeping his eyes on her. He's probably staring – okay, he  _is_  staring – but there's a gorgeous woman sitting next to him –  _talking_  to him. Fitz blinks; before he can say anything, make up an excuse to return to his room and barricade the door, Jemma finally turns to him.

"You don't have any classes this morning? Genius like you – I'm sure you have quite a course load!" she says, grinning widely as she lowers her books to her knees. Her hair catches on the reflection of the morning sun and if Fitz squints, he can imagine she could possibly be an angel.

Her excitement is anything but contagious though; Fitz raises an eyebrow. "I'm actually only taking four classes – but I'm working with Agent Weever on a project, and I suspect that'll take most of my time anyway."

"A project? About what?"

Her eagerness is quite grating really. "Well," says Fitz slowly, opening the notebook on his lap warily. He glances over to Jemma, expecting her to stare back glassy-eyed and clearly only flattering, but her focus is solely on the notes and sketches in his lap. "Um – it's a – "

"Long-range paralyzing ray-gun," says Jemma, eyes wide and jaw slack. But there's a twinkle in her eye as her finger scans the page. "And by the looks of it, missing a key component."

Fitz stiffens. "And what exactly would that be?"

"The tranquilizer you're using needs to be in a separate compartment or else it'll negatively react to the neurotoxins," says Jemma, eyebrow raised and voice flat. "It's simple really."

"The tranquilizers –" says Fitz with a frown, mentally calculating the weight needed to balance the gun as an offshoot of the recoil – "Oh."

Jemma bumps her shoulder into his, her books now left beside her. "See, simple," she says; and that's when Fitz smiles back because something about the way Jemma thinks is undeniably intriguing.

"To someone with a concentration in biochemistry, maybe," says Fitz, lowering his voice. "I would have missed that." His finger traces the boxed outline of the cartridge hold, but he's glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.

He catches her doing the same; he raises an eyebrow at her and she rolls her eyes. Fitz smiles. Jemma laughs.

"Leopold, huh?" says Jemma finally, and the smile fades off Fitz's face immediately. Scolding himself for letting the flicker of hope grow, he forcibly shuts his notebook, standing. "Hey – I didn't mean – "

Fitz hopes his face is blank as he studies her. "I should get to class."

"It's 9:20, no class starts – " she starts to say, but Fitz feels his chest clench when the pieces fall into place and Jemma just looks at him, narrowing her eyes slightly. "Why don't I walk with you? I'm going that way anyway," she says finally, a soft edge that cuts through the hard rock settling in his gut.

"You don't – "

"Okay, let's go."

When Fitz leaves Jemma at the door of the lecture hall, he wonders why he actually wants to go in; it isn't like he can't make up all the work in less than an hour anyway and it isn't like he'd actually  _missed_  anything on the first day anyway –

But Jemma gives him an encouraging smile, her eyes glittering with a  _you can't miss class – think about all the notes you have to take later to catch up!_  – and then Fitz rolls his eyes, sighs, and enters the room.

* * *

The first time Jemma calls him Leo, it's as Fitz.

" _Please_ , Jemma – she's been bugging me about it for ages – just one second – "

"Fitz," she says, biting her lip and wringing her hands, stationed on his bed. "This is your Mum – "

"And she – just like everyone – will love you, Jem, so come here and say hi," says Fitz, his laptop already poised and ready to video chat his mum. Jemma pauses, just looking at him as the thoughts race and Fitz sighs. "Please? For me?" Her feet start to wriggle and Fitz knows he's almost there. "I promise you can drag me to the boiler room tonight."

He's probably going to regret his promise, but when Jemma slides off the bed and scoots up beside him on his only desk chair, he finds he really doesn't care.

(His Mum loves Jemma, of course, because she's bright and clever and friendly; Ms. Fitz even throws in a jab about how Fitz clearly needs to learn study habits from Jemma, because if she has to hear one more time that Fitz fell asleep in Professor Vaughn's class, she may have to come down there herself, even if it means trying to understand all the 'science-y speak' they seemed so fond of. Fitz rolls his eyes and mutters  _that's technobabble_  so that only Jemma can hear him and says bye to his mum as Jemma tries not to giggle.)

But Fitz does regret his promise when Jemma drags him down the boiler room, arm wrapped around his even as he shuffles his feet down the stairs. "Jemma – "

"You promised," she says, staring him dead in the eyes. It's half a challenge, half a question, half a plea. Fitz doesn't question how three halves make a whole because he's sighing and following Jemma, only mumbling halfhearted complaints under his breath.

Somehow Jemma convinces him to have a beer – or three – and an hour later, he's laughing with Collins and Jackson about Professor Vaughn's failed attempts at entertaining during the day's lecture. Fitz thinks a classmate of his may be flirting with him, but he's too distracted by Jemma giggling with Gage about something or another in the corner of his eye. At some point Collins pushes him into Jemma again and she rolls her eyes before pulling him towards a pool table.

"Having fun?" she asks, face glowing and hair pulled back. "Felicia seemed quite riveted by that story about the Faraday cup."

"Who?"

"Felicia," says Jemma, rolling here eyes and still grinning. "You are so daft."

Fitz wrinkles his nose. "Whatever, it was getting stuffy over there – wanna playa game of pool?" he asks, gesturing to the table they happen to be sitting on. The stares are getting to be too much: too may people whispering his name and hers, in tandem and separately, slipping closer and closer. It's harder to breathe when everyone's eyes seem to be focused on them.

"Sure," she says, after a moment of scanning the room herself. Her hand squeezes his shoulder, a whispered  _you've got me_  floating in the silence of their corner; the weight of her fingers remains with him, even when he tries to calculate the trajectories needed to win the game despite his drunken state.

Fitz watches Jemma smoothly reject offers to dance even as they play; they all slip up to her, eager grins and ruffled shirts, with glassy eyes. "Hey Simmons," they say, flexing an arm as they lean on the table, "wanna dance?" Fitz raises an eyebrow as she smiles widely and shakes her head, leaning over Fitz to snatch the pool cue from his grip.

She seems just as motivated to be in his company and he is to be in hers. Fitz thinks he hears whispers of  _Fitz is a loser_  and  _why does Simmons hang out with him_ ; but he also hears mutters of  _Fitzsimmons_  but he probably imagines those. (He only realizes later that they call him Fitz now.)

After Jemma beats him in their game, Fitz rolls his eyes and agrees to let her help him on his homework for the next week.

They stumble home several hours later, after another round of drinks and two more rounds of pool. When they reach her room, Jemma's hanging off his arm, whispering about chemical reactions and the anatomy of monkeys; Fitz wants to laugh, because she's even excited half-asleep and quite inebriated. Instead, he awkwardly digs around in her purse to find her key and when she leans against the doorway, staring at him suddenly awake, Fitz wonders if this is what friendship is: someone staring at you with everything shining in their eyes and having the ability to understand every facet of it.

_Did you have fun?_  asks Jemma; her head is tilted and her eyebrow is slightly raised and her lip is quirked upwards.

Fitz smiles.  _I always have fun with you._

They stand like that for a full minute before she kisses his check. "Goodnight, Leo," she says.

He now likes how his name sounds on her lips. "Goodnight, Jemma," he says, turning away as she shuts the door. As he crosses to the other side of campus, he wonders why no one ever called him Leo before.

(That night, Fitz dreams of meeting Tony Stark. Jemma is right beside him.)

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the terrible ending...


End file.
